Kisses
by Yunami The Dragon
Summary: It all started with a game of spin the bottle...Warnings: Yuri (RxH) and a writer who actually LIKES Relena.


_The first time they kissed, it was a game._

She'd tried to explain to Duo that you couldn't reasonably play Spin the Bottle with only four people--she felt that it should be obvious no one could reasonably be expected to play Spin the Bottle with Heero Yuy, and so had left that part out--but he'd brushed her off. "We'll only play until everyone's been kissed by everyone else," he'd said. He'd seemed oddly enthusiastic, and faced with his eagerness, she really hadn't the heart to refuse.

Her turn had come, and it was with slightly damp palms that she'd reached out to set the empty soda-bottle turning. Round and round it went, slowing gradually until it spun to a stop, pointing directly at Hilde. Duo and Hilde both laughed, and she felt her face getting a little warm. Hilde leaned forward, across the empty space, and grinned at her. "It's just a game, Relena," she said. "It's not like we have to get married." Relena thought that maybe this was a bad time to mention she'd never been kissed before.

Duo gave her a little shove, and she reluctantly scooted forward until her face was a bare inch from the other girl's. She couldn't seem to bring herself to close the gap, but she needn't have worried about it. A moment later, she felt Hilde's lips on hers, and shut her eyes. There were no fireworks, no starbursts behind her eyes; the earth stayed right where it was. There was just a soft pressure, and a little movement, and the realization that she had no idea what she was supposed to be doing. For a first kiss, she thought, it was rather disappointing.

After a moment, Hilde pulled back and licked her lips lightly. "You know," she said with a wink "it works better if you relax a little."

Duo snickered.

Relena scrambled up, face flaming, and stuttered something about needing a drink of water before fleeing the room. As she made her escape, she heard Hilde say, almost casually, "It's your turn to spin, Heero."

_The second time they kissed, it was an experiment.  
_

Hilde sought her out later that evening, after she didn't come down for dinner. She found the blonde sitting in a far corner of the garden, bathed in the honey-gold light of late-evening sun. "I'm sorry," she said, and Relena jumped.

"Ah...Sorry for what?" she asked, forcing a slightly pinched smile to her face.

"For teasing you. That was your first kiss, wasn't it?" She sat down next to Relena.

The smile disappeared. "Yes."

"I thought so. Why didn't you say something? It was just a game, Relena! Nobody would have thought any worse of you if you didn't want to play."

"I know. I just didn't think about it, I suppose." They sat in silence for a few minutes. "…Was I really that bad?"

Hilde almost laughed at the anxious look on the other girl's face. "Not bad. Just inexperienced. Try to participate a little more, next time."

Relena felt an odd flutter in her stomach at the thought that there might be a next time, but couldn't restrain herself from asking, "How?"

Hilde blinked. "'How'?" she echoed.

"How do I…participate?"

"Uh…" The short-haired girl was at a loss as to how to answer that question. "Move more? I don't really know how to explain it."

Relena thought for a moment, the appeared to come to a decision. "Show me."

"Buh?" Hilde was sure she'd misheard.

"Show me," the blonde repeated patiently. "How can I get better if I don't know what I'm doing wrong? I don't want to be a bad kisser."

Hilde was flabbergasted. "I…really? You really want me to teach you how to kiss?" A part of her was sure that this was all some bizarre dream.

"Yes. Why not? Duo would laugh at me, and I don't think Heero would understand the need. You're the most obvious choice."

Her head spun. "But…I mean…Relena, do you even_ like _girls?"

"I don't know," she replied primly. "I've never really thought about it." An impish grin spread across her features. "I guess we'll find out."

Hilde shook her head, chuckling. "I guess we will."

_The twentieth time they kissed, it was affection.  
_

They'd begun spending more time together since that evening in Relena's garden. They didn't call it dating—didn't call it anything, really—but had either bothered to think about it, they would have had to admit that that's what they were doing. Going shopping, or to a movie, or just sunbathing in Relena's garden…Their friendship had grown deeper, and they were happy just to be around one another.

Now, they were standing at the top of the stairs, preparing to say goodnight. Hilde licked her lips, and Relena recognized the signal; Hilde was going to kiss her now. Obligingly, she stepped a bit closer, tilting her face up. She was expecting the usual light peck, and was surprised when Hilde's arms wrapped around her. This was new.

Soft lips lowered onto hers, and Hilde's arms cradled her gently. This was nice. Comforting, somehow. Then she felt the light brush of Hilde's tongue over her bottom lip. Too surprised to react, she waited uncertainly, and it came again. Tentatively, she parted her lips, and felt Hilde's tongue ease into her mouth.

It felt…Odd. Different, more intimate than what she was used to from the brunette. It made her feel warm all over. She was having some trouble breathing, though, and wasn't really sure how she should be responding. Was her breath bad? What if she still tasted like the garlic bread they'd had at dinner? She pulled away, reluctantly, and tried to catch her breath.

"That was..." she paused, unsure how to describe it. 'Nice' seemed too bland, 'fantastic' a bit too strong. "…Good," she finished, lamely.

Hilde smiled at her. "Yes," she said, and kissed her again. This time, Relena responded better, draping her arms over Hilde's shoulders and tilting her head to the side so that their noses weren't mashed together.

It was something better than "nice", but perhaps not quite "earthshaking." It was good.

_The one-hundredth time they kissed, it was romance.  
_

It was beginning to look a lot like Christmas, at least in Relena's living room. Carols blared from a small radio set up on the coffee table, Duo singing along enthusiastically. He was holding a rather rickety stepladder steady and handing ornaments up to Heero, who placed them carefully in the upper branches of the enormous (it took up nearly a quarter of the room) blue spruce in the corner. Hilde was seated at the base of the tree, stringing popcorn and cranberries into garlands, and trying to keep Duo's sneaky fingers out of the bowls.

"A little help, here?" Relena called from the doorway. Her head and torso were entirely hidden behind a pile of cardboard cartons with "X-MAS DECO" scrawled on them in permanent marker.

Hilde jumped up, scurried over, and began plucking boxes from her arms. "Where did these all come from?"

"The attic." Relena set the last of the boxes carefully on the floor near the tree, then dropped onto the couch. "My mother collected ornaments when I was little; we have quite a lot of holiday decorations. She used to choose a different theme for the tree every year."

Duo had momentarily abandoned the ladder, and was poking through the cartons. "Uh, yeah. I don't think this tree even has enough branches for all of these."

"No, I wouldn't even want to try putting them all up. I thought we could choose the best ones, and the rest will go on the tree in the entrance hall."

Heero climbed carefully down from the ladder, and the four of them set about opening boxes and lifting out the little packages of tissue. There was an amazing variety of ornaments. Some were very old and made of wood; there were little bells and trumpets; delicate blown-glass balls and stars and spirals; even a tiny shellacked castle made of real sand. The really amazing ones, though, were the Santa's. They ranged from the very traditional (a wild-haired old man carrying a staff and lantern), to the archetypal fat man in a red suit, to the truly strange (Santa Gator devouring a hapless elf). They had a lot of fun, unwrapping each ornament and holding it up for the others to exclaim over.

Eventually, after nearly two hours, the tree was deemed too full to hold another ornament, and the remaining decorations were rewrapped (a bit haphazardly, in some cases) and jumbled back into their boxes. The guys began toting the cartons out and piling them into the front hall, for use in decorating the much larger tree there. The two girls, meanwhile, began placing white and gold candles around the room and arranging boughs of holly and ivy in the hall and around the banister of the staircase.

Decorating done, they all settled in the living room to watch the old "Miracle on 34th Street," which was being shown on television, and admire the way the lights on the tree twinkled. About halfway through the film, during a commercial break, Relena got up to get drinks. Returning with four glasses of hot cider, she found herself pounced upon as she entered the room.

Hilde's arm slipped around her waist at the same moment that her tongue snaked into Relena's mouth. Deftly, she caught the glass that was threatening to slip from loose fingers, and pulled slowly away, dragging the blonde's lower lip through her teeth. Relena was flushed and short of breath, but far from unhappy.

"What was that for?"

Hilde nodded at something above her head. "Mistletoe."

It was good. So good, in fact, that Relena felt moved to kiss her again.

_The ten-thousandth time they kissed, it was a vow  
_

They didn't care that it wasn't legal; they considered themselves married anyway.

It was a small ceremony. Their family was there, and a few of Hilde's friends from work, but that was it. Both the brides wore white, though Duo did his loving his best to embarrass them by protesting loudly that, if the sounds coming from their shared room most nights were anything like what he thought they were, they really had no right to the color. All he earned for his trouble was a thump on the head and "Shut up, they can wear what they want," from Heero.

There were no attendants—the couple didn't see the need for them, and there were so few guests that having a full wedding party would have meant there were only about ten people not involved in the ceremony—but Zechs escorted his sister down the aisle, and Noin performed the same function for Hilde. The ceremony itself was short, a simple exchanging of vows. They promised to love and support one another for life, through good times and bad; to always, always make an effort to solve their problems together; and to stay faithful as long as they both should live. They exchanged the simple white-gold rings, engraved on the inside with their two names.

"I now pronounce you partners for life," the officiant intoned, then smiled warmly at them. "You may kiss the bride at your convenience."

Hilde grinned, no doubt about to make a joke about there being two brides, but Relena silenced her gently. It was supposed to be a brief, simple, strictly-for-show kiss, but of course Hilde had other ideas. Before Relena could pull back, she found herself dipped backwards, and her mouth being very thoroughly—and enjoyably—explored by her lover. It was good. She was reminded of the first time they'd kissed like this, and the memory made her warm all over again.

She heard a wolf-whistle—Duo, of course—and they broke apart, neither really embarrassed at having forgotten their audience.

"Trying to find her tonsils, Hil?" Duo called, irrepressible as ever despite their best efforts. Noin and Quatre were laughing, Zechs was shaking his head, and even Heero couldn't quite repress his grin.

And it was good.


End file.
